Natalie McCann announced she was leaving Fox 5 after a decade on the air as a reporter and anchor.
Starting as a multimedia reporter, she was promoted to “Good Day Atlanta” as a co-anchor and traffic reporter in 2021.
“What a bittersweet day it is,” McCann said tearfully on air Friday during “Good Day Atlanta.” “After 10 incredible years at Fox 5 Atlanta, it’s time to say goodbye … at least for now.”
She told viewers that she “grew up right before your eyes. I walked through these doors as a 26-year-old girl chasing a dream, and over the last decade you’ve been there through every chapter with me. You watched me become a wife, a mom to two beautiful children and the person I am today. Thank you so much for being part of that journey.”
She lauded Fox 5 “as family. You always will be.”
A Fox spokesperson did not respond to a query about her departure. She did not provide a reason for leaving.
McCann grew up in Alpharetta and graduated from Chattahoochee High School in 2008. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism at Auburn University, she worked at a Thomaston newspaper for a year. She then worked at WLTZ-TV in Columbus for three years before coming to Fox 5.
She is married to Brad McCann, the older brother of former Atlanta Braves catcher Brian McCann.
Credit: IHEARTRADIO
Credit: IHEARTRADIO
Power OG Maddox has left iHeartRadio
Atlanta-based Ryan Maddox, an original voice on former top 40 station Power 96.1, has left Power’s parent company, iHeartRadio.
He said he was let go a few months ago, but with his noncompete clause over, he can now discuss it.
“Nobody knew I no longer worked there,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
He said he was able to be a radio personality despite having Tourette’s syndrome, a neurological disorder that causes him to cough and have vocal tics.
“But when I open the mic, I don’t have Tourette’s,” he said. “I get my business done.”
Maddox loved radio so much as a child, he started a pirate pop station in his Tampa, Florida, neighborhood when he was barely a teenager. Nobody noticed for two years, he said. Then the Federal Communications Commission came to his door to shut it down. (He still has the letter from the FCC.)
As a teenager, he ran his own internet station, then hosted weekends and fill-in at Tampa’s top 40 station 93.3 WFLZ-FM. In 2012, he landed an afternoon hosting job at top 40 station Power 96.1 in Atlanta when it launched in 2012. He later added music director and assistant program director titles.
“I’ll cherish those years,” Maddox said. “That time will be on my highlight reel.”
After Power let him go, iHeart promoted him to be a national playlist curator while DJing multiple stations nationwide, including a K-pop station in Hawaii. But he was let go again in September and his severance ran out in March.
He isn’t sure what his next move is but said he’s “open at the moment to different possibilities” in radio, streaming/podcasts, K-pop or at a music label.
Credit: 92.9/T
Credit: 92.9/T
Mitch Evans returns to 92.9/The Game
Mitch Evans, who has been covering sports on Atlanta radio on and off for nearly 30 years, has returned to 92.9/The Game as a weekend and fill-in host.
He was one of the original hosts on the Game when the all-sports station debuted in 2012, covering late nights for four years.
He was on air on the Game on Sunday for the first time in a decade.
“It’s surreal, but I’m blessed to be back,” Evans told the AJC. “I feel like I had unfinished business at the Game when I left. But how can I complain? I’m 68. I’ve been able to stay in this market all this time and have people hire me who still value my work.”
Evans said the past five years have been difficult for him on a personal level after his mother died and Randi, his wife of 38 years, passed from pancreatic cancer. “I’m not lying when I tell you I felt Randi on Sunday,” he said. “I’m not a religious person, but she was very spiritual and made me eventually see the light.”
His radio career in Atlanta has been peripatetic. After seven years at 790/The Zone, he covered sports for rock stations Z93 and Dave FM (the predecessors to 92.9/The Game), news/talk 640/WGST-AM, 680/The Fan, Cox’s SEC Country and iHeartRadio for multiple radio stations nationwide.
He is thrilled to be at a station that also features midmorning host Steak Shapiro, who first hired Evans at 790/The Zone in 1997, and Mike Bell, an afternoon host he also worked with at the Zone.
“I will be on Steak’s show next week and will be subbing for him the week of July 4,” Evans said, noting that with Randi gone, “I may not have someone anymore, but this gives me something.”
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